Various hard surface cleaners or cleansers have been disclosed which contain soaps or surfactants in combination with various hydrocarbon type solvents. Examples of such cleansers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,414,128 to Goffinet; 4,455,250 and 4,540,505 to Frazier; 4,533,487 to Jones and 4,576,738 to Calodney. In general these cleaners or cleansers are fluent, do not contain thickening agents and are not particularly adapted to have properties of thickened aqueous cleansers.
A variety of thickened aqueous scouring cleansers are known in the art and these cleansers exhibit various characteristics. For example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,599,186, 4,657,692 and 4,695,394 to Choy et al. and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,842,757, of Reboa et al. thickened aqueous abrasive cleansers are disclosed which use colloidal alumina thickeners to provide abrasive cleansers which exhibit little or no syneresis over time. Similar cleansers containing organic solvents are disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,298,181, of Choy et al., whose grandparent application Ser. No. 07/176,636, filed Apr. 1, 1988, now abandoned, was filed on the same date as the greatgrandparent of this application herein, filed of even date with this application now abandoned.
Other abrasive cleansers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,920 to Culshaw and publisher patent applications EP 126545 to Buzzaccarini and EP 216416 to Iding, which contain clay type thickeners While these cleansers contain hydrocarbon solvents, the clay thickeners do not provide the desired properties in terms of flowability and pourability. The disclosure of Iding indicates that including solvents in abrasive cleanser compositions contributes to the instability and syneresis of these cleansers.
Other abrasive cleansers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,158,553 and 4,240,919 to Chapman, 4,396,525 and 4,129,423 to Rubin; 4,005,027 to Hartman; 4,457,856 to Mitchell; and Japanese Patent Application 60-108499 to Watanabe et al. None of these cleansers disclosed in these references provide the desired cleaning efficacy for certain applications together with the desired flowable or plastic consistency as exhibited by the Choy et al. cleansers. A specialized emulsion type skin cleaner composition for removing paint is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,508,643 to Elepano et al. as containing surfactants, solvents, an optional mild abrasive, and a protective colloid thickener, which protective colloid can be colloidal alumina.
The disclosures of the above patents, published applications and the copending applications are incorporated herein by reference.
In view of the above it has been found that there remains the need for a thickened aqueous cleaner having the characteristics of:
(a) having a smoothly flowable or plastic consistency, preferably pourable, and maintaining these properties over long periods of time; and PA1 (b) having improved cleaning efficacy for certain applications. PA1 (a) at least one of an anionic, nonionic, amphoteric or zwitterionic surfactant being present in at least a cleaning-effective amount; PA1 (b) an electrolyte/buffer forming about 0.1 to about 10% by weight of the cleaner; PA1 (d) an organic solvent present from a cleaning-effective amount to about 10% by weight of the cleaner; and PA1 (e) a colloidal alumina thickener having an average particle size, in dispersion, of no more than about one micron, the colloidal alumina thickener forming from about 1 to about 15% by weight of the cleaner. PA1 (a) at least one of an anionic, nonionic, amphoteric or zwitterionic surfactant being present in at least a cleaning-effective amount; PA1 (b) an electrolyte/buffer forming about 0.1 to about 10% by weight of the cleaner; PA1 (c) a fatty acid soap being present from an effective amount to about 5% by weight of the cleaner; PA1 (d) an organic solvent present from cleaning-effective amount to about 10% by weight of the cleaner; and PA1 (e) a colloidal alumina thickener having an average particle size, in dispersion, of no more than about one micron, the colloidal alumina thickener forming from about 1 to about 15% by weight of the cleaner. PA1 (a) at least one of an anionic, nonionic, amphoteric or zwitterionic surfactant being present in at least a cleaning-effective; PA1 (b) an electrolyte/buffer forming about 0.1 to about 10% by weight of the cleaner; PA1 (c) a fatty acid soap being present from an effective amount to about 5% by weight of the cleaner. PA1 (d) an organic solvent present from cleaning-effective amount to about 10% by weight of the cleaner; and PA1 (e) a colloidal alumina thickener having an average particle size, in dispersion, of no more than about one micron, the colloidal alumina thickener forming from about 1 to about 15% by weight of the cleaner. PA1 (a) at least one of an anionic, nonionic, amphoteric or zwitterionic surfactant being present from about 0.1 to about 10% by weight of the cleaner; PA1 (b) an electrolyte/buffer forming from about 0.1 to about 10% by weight of the cleaner; PA1 (c) a fatty acid soap being present from about 0.1 to about 5% by weight of the cleaner; PA1 (d) an organic solvent present from about 0.1 to about 10% by weight of the cleaner; and PA1 (e) a colloidal alumina thickener having an average particle size, in dispersion, of no more than about one micron, the colloidal alumina thickener forming about 1 to about 15% by weight of the cleaner. PA1 (a) an initial portion of the total water with a colloidal alumina thickener; PA1 (b) a final portion of the total water and a discrete amount of a neutralizing agent; PA1 (c) optionally, a halogen bleach; PA1 (d) a fatty acid soap; PA1 (e) a surfactant (bleach stable nonionic when a bleach is used); PA1 (f) a buffer/electrolyte which interacts with the surfactants recited in steps (d) and (e) and the thickener recited in step (a) to result in a plastic rheology; and PA1 (g) an organic solvent.
In the context of this invention the term "plastic" means that the cleaner is of a consistency which can undergo continuous deformation without rupture or relaxation of that consistency and the term "pourable" means that the cleaner is of a consistency which can be poured from an open container without the need for application of any force other than gravity, thus eliminating any need to shake, agitate or stir the cleaner before use.